


Only You Can See This

by zindori (Zinthezinner)



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Ghosts, train accidents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:27:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23407534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zinthezinner/pseuds/zindori
Summary: Rimi survives.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15





	Only You Can See This

**Author's Note:**

> I almost cried writing this lmao. It's based off a moodboard I made.

“Rimi, look! There’s a person tied to the train-tracks like in a cartoon!”  
“W-w-what? Where?”  
“There! See? Right on the tracks!”  
“A-ahaha, you got me! There’s actually nobody there, O-Tae-chan. You had me really- ya had me w-worried for a second there, but that was a joke…”  
“What do you mean? We’ve gotta help ‘em!”  
“Eh?”  
  
What did she mean ‘what do you mean’? She was joking, right?  
  
Rimi couldn’t really process it enough to move, or maybe she could and wouldn’t. Either way, she didn’t move, but Tae did. The taller girl ducked under the boomgates that had just begun to lower and started crouching.  
  
“T-that’s dangerous! O-Tae-chan, come back please!”  
“But I’ve gotta get ‘em!”  
  
Tae turned back to the nothing on the tracks and started pretending(?) to untie someone.  
  
“Stop squirmin’ pal, I’m trying.”  
  
A noise started being all too noticeable from the east.  
  
“The train! O-Tae-chan, the train!”  
“The dastardly villain really thought no-one would find you out here, huh? That’s alright, we’ve gotcha.”  
  
There was no way it was going to slow down in time. There just wasn’t.  
  
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Rimi was rooted to the path, shaking like a leaf already.  
  
“Come back please!”  
“Almost done, Rimi! Don’t worry about it!”  
  
Standing herself, Tae helped the imaginary stranger up.  
  
The noise. The noise! The noise the noise the noise the noise the noise  
  
And over it;  
  
“You could’ve helped me out a little there, Rimi! That was cl-”  
  
It was close, alright. Too close.  
  
Time seemed to slow for the bassist as the train hit the guitarist, who had not quite gotten off the tracks at the moment of collision.  
  
It was a meaty thud that dragged past, smearing across the soundscape the violent trauma of impact.  
  
Similarly, smeared across the landscape was Rimi’s friend. Rimi’s… _dead_ friend. There was no coming back alive from beneath those wheels.  
  
The train was slowing, Rimi noticed, which it had likely been doing since it saw Tae on the tracks. All it did was spread her a little less. Though ‘less’ was significant, the distance Tae now covered was also significant.  
  
Rimi realised that she’d been hyperventilating and then screamed. She returned to hyperventilating as she collapsed to her knees, and then screamed again. She continued to alternate these, barely able to think at all.  
  
_I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening. I’m not here. This isn’t happening._  
  
She did this until she was approached by an adult, at which point she blacked out.  
  


* * *

  
The cops had taken her in for questioning, and Rimi was a mess. They’d decided that it was unlikely Rimi had pushed her friend into the oncoming train, and had decided to keep an eye on her.  
  
It made sense that they’d question her, but it hurt to think that anyone would think she was capable of such a thing. It’s their job, though, she reasoned to herself, crying into her cornet pillow in bed.  
  
She could feel her own hot tears stain it deeply, feel her fingers digging into the yielding squishiness and plush of it. Shuddering wildly, sobs wracked her body.  
  
She turned over.  
  
“Ah! You’re here!”  
  
She screamed.  
  
“Whoa, hey! Relax, Rimi, it’s Tae! Open your eyes, buddy!”  
  
She did. Before her was her treasured dead friend, looking down at her with a concerned expression. A ghost, she assumed from the incomplete opacity.  
  
“O-Tae-chan?”  
“Mhm! I’ve been looking for you!”  
“What?”  
“I think I died..?”  
  
Rimi shifted to look at the roof. She nodded.  
  
At that moment, Rimi’s parents came into the room, looking panicked.  
  
“Rimi? Sweetie? Are you okay?”  
“O-Tae-chan…”  
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ve got you.”  
  
Tae waved to them.  
  
“I’ve got her too! I can take care of her as well.”  
  
They didn’t hear.  
  
“Are you guys cool with that? I don’t know that everyone's folks are cool with ghost besties. Ghosties. Is it okay if I chill with your daughter?”  
  
It almost looked like they were deliberately ignoring her with how they’d come to Rimi’s bed and were patting her, reassuring her gently that everything was going to be okay.  
  
Rimi forced herself to calm down, if only to get her parents out of the room so that she could talk to Tae. After a while, they checked in.  
  
“Are you going to be okay if we head back to bed now, or do you want us to stay with you?”  
“I-I’ll be fine… thanks…”  
“Alright honey. We’re here if you need. Goodnight.”  
“Goodnight…”  
  
They left, and the ghost waved them out.  
  
“Only you can see this, huh?”  
“Did you interact with anyone else on the way here?”  
“Nope! Didn’t feel like it. Nobody seemed to notice me anyway.”  
“R-right.”  
  
Only she could see this, huh?  
  
“So. I died.”  
  
Rimi nodded.  
  
“I knew.”  
“Oh, you know about it then? How long was I out?”  
  
The clock beside the bed read 12:41.  
  
“Since yesterday morning…”  
“Ah, that’s not so bad then.”  
“You’re not sad about being dead?”  
“Well… I still get to see you, and it had to happen some day.”  
“You’re not mad at me?”  
“Why would I be mad at you? You didn’t kill me, didja?”  
“I…”  
  
Well yes, but actually no. Tae looked at her with a puzzled, but non-accusatory expression.  
  
“I watched you die, O-Tae-chan… and I… I didn’t do anything! I’m so sorry!”  
  
She was whispering so as not to disturb her parents again, but the last sentence came out as a squeak.  
  
Tae sat beside her and tried to put her hand on a shoulder, only to have it phase through. There was a chill where she did, and Rimi shivered at the ‘touch’.  
  
“Ah.”  
“I-i-it’s ok… ghosts usually can’t touch people properly anyway…”  
“Right, yeah.”  
  
Looking disappointed at the lack of contact, the taller girl stared at the doorway.  
  
“I’m sure you would’ve helped if you could. I don’t super remember what happened, or really any of yesterday! But you’re my dear friend, and if there was something you could’ve done that didn’t put you in danger yourself, I’m 98% sure you would’ve done it.”  
“Only 98%?!?”  
“That’s still a high percentage!”  
“I guess so…”  
“How’d I go then?”  
“You were trying to rescue someone from the train-tracks, but they weren’t there. Only you could see them. They only found your body, and I didn’t see someone when we were there before it… before it…”  
  
Rimi swallowed.  
  
“Before it hit you…”  
“I was being brave? Cool!”  
“O-Tae-chan, I don’t think that’s…”  
  
She looked away.  
  
“Never mind.”  
“Nah, it’s ok. I see a lot of stuff that isn’t from this plane, and sometimes it’s kinda hard to tell the difference? It’s probably just someone who died there ages ago!”  
“T-that doesn’t make me feel any better!”  
“Right, sorry.”  
“I tried to get you to come back, but I couldn’t move. I just watched as it- as it- as it-”  
“Hey, calm down. I don’t blame you, ok?”  
  
Suddenly, there were tears streaming down the bassist’s face.  
  
“Why did you come to me first, anyway? Why not go to Kasumi-chan or Arisa-chan or someone else?”  
“I dunno actually! It was kinda like when a lady puts a pie out and people float to it when they smell it.”  
“I think you watch too many old cartoons…”  
“Used to!”  
  
That hurt.  
  
Tae tried to lean against her affectionately, but fell right through. She had the sense to hit the bed, but she was also in Rimi’s lap in the most literal sense a ghost can get.  
  
“Whoa! Hey look, I’m inside you!”  
  
Despite the cold, Rimi could feel a blush rising. This was weird. This was definitely weird.  
  
“O-O-O-Tae-chan!”  
“Do you want me out?”  
“W-well!”  
“Hold on, I’ve got a solution. Lie down.”  
  
Complying, Rimi went from her sitting position to her back, and then to her side to face her dead friend. Said dead friend also lay down, beside her.  
  
“Now we can just hold hands!”  
  
Rimi reached out for her and felt the chill again. Despite the discomfort of it, it was somehow reassuring.  
  
“I can’t actually feel it right now with being a ghost and all, but I know you’ve got really warm hands, and that makes me feel fuzzy inside usually.”  
“You’ve usually got colder hands than mine, but it’s not usually this bad…”  
  
A giggle from Tae. She seemed pretty happy for a ghost.  
  
“Is it freaky?”  
“Um… a little…”  
“I guess it’s a good thing only you can see this then, huh?”  
“Only I can see this… people are going to think I’m crazy, huh?”  
“Eh, it’s not so bad. I got ignored mostly, so you’re probably fine?”  
“That’s sad… I’m sorry I didn’t get you to go to a doctor in the end…”  
“That’s alright.”  
  
Rimi’s watery eyes were met with a warm smile, which she shakily returned.  
  
“I don’t blame you at all. If you’d tried to get me off, you were probably at risk of getting hit yourself, right? I don’t want you to die like that.”  
“I didn’t want _you_ to die like that…”  
“That one’s on me. I’m sorry, Rimi. I’m sorry for making you so sad.”  
“Mm.”  
“You’re gonna be okay though! One day. One day you’ll wake up and you’ll be fine. You’ll remember me, I’ll always be here-”  
  
A poke from Tae went through Rimi’s chest to her heart.  
  
“- And you’ll get through this.”  
“It’s going to hurt… it already hurts so much…”  
“I know. It’s going to hurt for a while, and you don’t know how much that hurts me too, but… it’ll pass. Let it wash over you, and when it’s gone, you remain. Just like the rest of it, yeah?”  
“This doesn’t feel like the rest of it, though. I get real nervous sometimes, but this is just… sad. I feel all heavy, ‘n’ all I can do is cry or scream… I don’t like it…”  
“Hey, you’re okay. It won’t be like this forever. Nothing is like anything forever! Everything’s changing all the time, and that’s okay.”  
  
It felt like each fresh moment was designed to tempt Rimi to a newer bout of tears, but she tried to hold it together. For Tae.  
  
“I… I don’t think I have it in my heart to blame you, O-Tae-chan. Especially not now…”  
“That’s good. You can if you need to, though! I get told off for doin’ stupid stuff all the time. If it helps you feel better to blame me, you can.”  
“B-but it wasn’t your fault! It was you seeing things… you were trying to help…”  
“Guess so.”  
  
It was hard for Rimi to get any more angry than ‘somewhat frustrated’ normally, and she really didn’t think she could blame her former bandmate for her own death. Someone like Arisa would be mad, though…  
  
“Arisa-chan’s probably going to be mad at you when I explain it…”  
“Like I said, that’s fine. People deal with stuff in their own ways, and I know she’s only gonna be mad because she cared about me.”  
  
The ghost smiled that wide smile of hers.  
  
“She cares about you, too. She’ll help you get through this, same as all the other girls! You’re not alone.”  
  
Alone… she was alone in her room before the specter showed up. She hadn’t bothered checking her phone or computer for hours.  
  
“O-Tae-chan… will you stay with me please?”  
“Mhm! You can fall asleep with me, it’s alright.”  
“Th-thank you…”  
“I just want you to be okay.”  
  


* * *

  
And she was.  
  
Upon awakening, Rimi realised that the ghost was gone. She begged for Tae to come back, to keep comforting her, but she never did. It hurt her, of course it did, but the wound healed over time. She cried together with her friends for years, and she never completely forgot about Poppin’Party’s former lead guitarist, but gradually the ache’s severity faded.  
  
She got through it. She was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> You'll be okay.


End file.
